Jain Journal 1972 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 21

158
time alone that is called samaya. Kala is limited to only one samaya, that is to say it has only one pradeśa (fraction) and not a combination or pradeśas, and is not therefore, included in the astikāyas. The imaginary combinations of such infinitesimal samayas are variously classified as āvalikā, moment, day, night, fortnight, month, year, etc. According to another view, it is held that kala or time too, has a real existence, it is not something imaginary. It has the size of an atom, and is called kālāņu. Because each kālāņu exists separately in a distinct pradesa or a point of space (ākāśa) it is not called astikāya. It is instrumental in the metamorphoses of jiva and pudgala (matter). It too is formless and unconscious.
JAIN JOURNAL
So far we have described the jiva and the ajiva, the two essential principles which constitute the whole universe. What follows will give an idea of how the jiva gets enmeshed in karma and wanders in the worlds, and how it can be liberated. It will, thus, be an exposition of the remaining seven principles.
Asrava (Influx of Karma):
The third principle is asrava. The causes which lead to the influx of good and evil karma for the bondage of the soul are called asrava. To put it briefly, asrava is an attraction in the jiva towards sense-objects. Mithyatva (perverted belief or ignorance), avirati (want of self-restraint), pramāda (inadvertance), kaşayas (passions like anger, vanity, deceitfulness and avarice) and yoga (activities of mind, speech and body)—these are the five causes of the influx of good and evil karmas, and so they are known as asrava. Himsā or violence, asateya or untruth, caurya or stealing, maithuna or sex indulgence and parigraha or attachment to sense-objects, etc. also cause the bondage of the soul by karma and, therefore, they too are asrava.
Bandha (Bondage):
The fourth principle is bandha. It is the envelopment of the soul by the skandhas or aggregates composed of innumerable particles of certain categories of karma. There is a particular type of particles which being attracted by the ignorance of the jiva, the action of its mind, speech and body, and its reactions of attraction and repulsion, attach themselves to the soul and shroud it. These particles are called particles of karma vargaṇā. In its essential nature the soul being pure, transperent conscious and incorporeal, logically it cannot be bound by corporeal and unconscious particles, but from time immemorial it has undergone